Ford employees produce the electrical F-150 Lightning pickup on Dec. 13, 2022 on the automaker’s Ford Rouge Electrical Car Middle (REVC).
Michael Wayland | CNBC
DETROIT – Ford Motor plans to restart manufacturing of its electrical F-150 Lightning pickup on March 13 – greater than a month after a battery issue prompted one of many automobiles to catch hearth.
The automaker on Thursday instructed CNBC the manufacturing timeline will permit its battery provider, SK On, to construct up manufacturing and ship battery packs to the Michigan plant the place the truck is produced.
The fireplace occurred Feb. 4 in a holding lot throughout a pre-delivery high quality examine whereas the automobile was charging. Ford suspended production of the automobiles and issued a stop-shipment to sellers. Ford declined to reveal particulars of the problem that prompted the automobile to catch hearth or of the applied resolution. The corporate beforehand mentioned engineers decided there was no proof of a charging fault.
“Within the weeks forward, we are going to proceed to use our learnings and work with SK On’s crew to make sure we proceed delivering high-quality battery packs – all the way down to the battery cells. As REVC ramps up manufacturing, we are going to proceed holding already-produced automobiles whereas we work by way of engineering and elements updates,” Ford mentioned in a press release to CNBC.
Ford final week introduced SK had began constructing battery cells once more at a plant in Georgia however mentioned the automaker would lengthen downtime at its Rouge Electrical Car Middle (REVC), the place the F-150 Lightning is constructed, by way of at least this week.
The F-150 Lightning is being carefully watched by traders, because it’s the primary mainstream electrical pickup truck available on the market and a significant launch for Ford. The battery concern provides to ongoing “execution issues” detailed to traders final month by Ford CEO Jim Farley that crippled the automaker’s fourth-quarter earnings.
Ford initially opened buyer reservations for the F-150 Lightning when it was revealed in May 2021. Greater than 200,000 reservations have been positioned previous to Ford quickly closing the method to aim to align manufacturing with anticipated demand.
Many reservation house owners are nonetheless ready for his or her automobiles, as Ford mentioned earlier Thursday it is sold fewer than 20,000 of the all-electric vehicles since they went on sale final yr.
